Murdered for a Cent

1910

A quarrel over a single penny led to a murder in Hoboken the other day. A man from Nebraska, who stopped at a hotel in Hoboken while awaiting the sailing of the steamer for Europe, put a penny in the slot of an automatic music box in the dining-room of the hotel, but the box refused to pour forth the expected ragtime tune. The Nebraskan became indignant and upbraided the German porter. The latter explained to him that it required a nickel and not a penny to set the mechanism of the music-box in motion, but that explanation did not satisfy the man from Nebraska. He became abusive and when the porter threatened to put him out, he pulled a revolver from his pocket and shot the porter dead.

An Artist's Fad, and Wycliffe's Bible

1916

An Artist's Fad

A Parisian artist in lieu of a picture gallery has a collection of great painters' palettes, some 500 in number, among them being Corot's, Isabey's and Theodore Rousseau's. On many of the palettes are sketches by the painters who used them.


Wycliffe's Bible

John Wycliffe completed the translation of the whole Bible for the first time into the language of the English people. He was born near Richmond, in Yorkshire, about 1324.


A Case of Fifty-Fifty

"Half the world doesn't know how the other half lives."
That's the half that minds its own business probably." — Philadelphia Ledger.


Fair Enough

"Yes," we admitted, "it's a fine car. and we'd be glad to own it but we can't afford to buy it, and there's no use wasting your breath trying to persuade us."
"Listen," pleaded the agent, "this car isn't going to cost you a cent. All you've got to do is to take out an accident policy in our favor and the car is yours. We'll even pay the premium on the policy. Can anything be fairer than that?" — St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Comment: I'll admit it, I don't get that last one. It must be a comment on the high cost of car insurance, that they'll give you a free car just to take your money on a policy. It's sort of like with instant cameras a few years ago; they were very cheap but the film's what got you.

The Baffling Case of the Missing Overalls

Wakefield, Michigan, 1919--

"I STOLE THE PANTS," SAYS GUILTY AGENT

THE BAFFLING CASE OF THE MISSING OVERALL BEFORE JUDGE FOR THREE DAYS

"I am guilty of the charge of stealing a pair of overalls," said Jake Weinstein, defendant in a case that was in its third day before Municipal Judge J. O. Gustafson, yesterday.

"Plaintiffs declare orally against the defendant, and say that before and until hereinafter mentioned they were the owners and in immediate possession of one pair of men's overalls of the value of $2.50; that on the 26th day of July, A. D. 1919, at the township of Wakefield, Gogebic County, State of Michigan, the defendant unlawfully took and converted the same to his use," says the first count against Weinstein, agent for Delco light plants. "I borrowed the pants when I put the plant in," was his statement. "But do not believe I retained possession of them."

The plaintiff is with the Bulgarian Bakery and Grocery Company of Wakefield. A Delco plant was installed in the plant which proved to be too small. It was exchanged for a larger plant, but the small one was taken out five days before the other one was put in. The company claims loss due to lack of light during that period amounted to $200, plus the cost of the overalls, $202.50.

--Ironwood Daily Gobe, Ironwood, Michigan, November 20, 1919, page 1.